Syndemic aspects between COVID-19 pandemic and social inequalities

Abstract

Although the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reached all over the world population, it has demonstrated a heterogeneous impact on different populations. The most vulnerable communities which coexist daily with the social inequalities like low access to hygiene and personal protection products, crowded residences, and higher levels of chronic diseases have a higher risk of contact and the spread of infection, beyond unfavorable clinical outcomes. The elevation of the risk of infection exposure can be related to gender due to the presence of a larger contingent of women in essential services, as well as frontline and cleaning professionals who regardless of gender have the greatest exposure to the virus. Such exposures can contribute to the development of fear of contaminating themselves or their family members associated also with the work stress, both of which are related to the emergence of mental disturbances in these populations. Furthermore, conditions of unsanitary living and low socioeconomic status, populations at war, pre-existing social barriers, and ethnicity have contributed to more impact of the pandemic both in the exposure to the virus and access to health services, COVID-19 management, and management of other pathologies. At the same time, factors such as the closing of non-essential services, the loss of jobs, and the increase in household spending aggravated the social vulnerabilities and impacted the family economy. Lastly, the COVID-19 pandemic contributed still more to the impact on women's health since it propitiated a favorable environment for increasing domestic violence rates, through the segregation of women from social life, and increasing the time of the victims with their aggressors.

Behavioral Predictors Associated With COVID-19 Vaccination and Infection Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in Korea

“…First, no discernible correlation was observed between the examined socioeconomic or sexual orientation attributes (with the latter including sexual orientation, disclosure of sexual orientation, and HIV status) of MSM and their rates of COVID-19 vaccination or infection. Often, socioeconomically marginalized communities are relegated to subpar living conditions, which restricts access to healthcare, increases infection risk, and reduces adherence to treatment regimens [ 24 , 25 ]. However, factors such as age, educational attainment, and income did not show predictable correlations with vaccination or infection rates among our respondents.…”

A comparison of COVID-19 between Egypt and the United Kingdom

“…An early recognition of the compounding detrimental impacts of two contemporaneous separate epidemics was made regarding COVID-19 and HIV (51) and later extended to obesity, diabetes, and tuberculosis (55,56). Wider scoping reviews, such as the World Bank grouping noted above, highlighted socioeconomic disadvantage and other factors as worldwide contributors to decreasing outcomes (57,58). These may also contribute to the disparities in infectivity and case fatality rates between Egypt and the United Kingdom.…”

Challenges to Global Health Emerging from the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…As indicated already in Horton's provocative editorial [5], early in the pandemic, we were faced with '-demics' of various manifestations, such as an infodemic and, more precisely, a syndemic situation. Several international and national organisations undertook actions to explore and advise on the topics of the syndemic and infodemic, both of which impacted many facets of the pandemic and its management [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”